Providing proper affordances when transferring source metaphors from information appliances to a 3G mobile multipurpose handset

• Published in: Personal and ubiquitous computing Vol. 7; no. 6; pp. 372 - 380
• Main Authors: Goldstein, Mikael, Nyberg, Marcus, Anneroth, Mikael
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Springer Nature B.V 01.12.2003
• Subjects: Appliances; Information systems; Metaphor; Mobile communications networks
• ISSN: 1617-4909; 1617-4917
• DOI: 10.1007/s00779-003-0252-9

The idea of merging different information appliances, each tailored to fit a specific task, into a multipurpose 3G mobile handset has become an interesting research area. This paper describes what considerations must be met from an efficiency point of view when designing a multipurpose handset concept including, e.g., camera functionality. The lessons learned when trading well-known previously acquired source metaphors for the "computer metaphor" was investigated in a small usability evaluation with 14 users, evaluating a multipurpose prototype. High task accuracy (effectiveness) was obtained (72% pass), but the efficiency with which the tasks were performed compared to using dedicated information appliances was low. Leaving out well-known affordances effectively prevented transfer of previously acquired source metaphors, which resulted in lack of feedback, inconsistency and errors. In order to validate usability, a combination of both objective and subjective metrics has to be used.[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]